Kansas Supreme Court upholds life sentence for KCK woman convicted of husband’s murder
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the life sentence of a Kansas City, Kansas woman convicted of the 2017 murder of her estranged husband, the Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Barbara Frantz was sentenced in 2020 to serve at least 25 years before being eligible for parole.
On Jan. 27, 2017, her estranged husband Gary Frantz was found after being shot six times in a parking lot near the Missouri River in Leavenworth.
Gary Frantz was still breathing at the scene, and told officers that his wife shot him before he died.
Police found shell casings in Barbara Frantz’s apartment that matched ones found at the scene. She attempted to blame the murder on her 23-year-old son, but a Leavenworth jury convicted her in July 2018.
Barbara Frantz appealed the decision, arguing the court wrongly limited cross examination of her son and erred when considering her request to have the case dismissed after the state presented evidence to the jury. She also said there wasn’t enough evidence to find her guilty.
The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower court.
“From review of the opinion, the Court agreed that there were not errs made by the court and Mrs. Franz was given a constitutional and sufficient opportunity to cross-examine her son,” Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said in a news release. “Further, that there was sufficient enough evidence to prove the case.”
Thompson said witnesses saw Barbara Franz leaving the scene in her car and recognized her in the same car later that night.
